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Porcupine Tree DVD-A (1 Viewer)

FeisalK

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is it my In Absentia disc, or does the DVD-A have very little going on in the LFE track? most of the bass seems to be coming from my mains bookshelves - and they're not set to large.
 

Brian L

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Hey Feisal...long time no type.

Have not played this one in a while, but I will give it another listen. I thought the overall SQ was pretty good, which coming from me means that there was a decent amount of bass.:D

But I use an ICBM for BM, so everything below 80 Hz and all .1 content heads to the sub.

How are you doing Bass Management? From your question, its not clear. If you mains are set to small, anything below the crossover would go to your sub along with any native .1 content, right? How are you determining what's in the mains and whats in the .1?

BGL
 

Lewis Besze

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I was gonna start a thread about this,as this DVD-A[MC] was started to give me a listener's fatigue after only a few songs,which never happened to me when I listened the CD version in my car, on a far lesser sound system.I did a comparioson at home between the DVD-A and the CD.BTW bass managment was handled by my DVD-2900 for all formats and mixes.In a nutshell the DVD-A 2 ch and the CD is virtually identical,but the MC mix on the DVD-A is definitelly lower in bass and has an elevated midrange presense due to the mix,as the guitars now comes from all channels at points,and makes the sound thin and bright,not to mention the bass loss.It is a pity as I liked the mix overall,but not at the expense of clarity.Great album though.
 

Brian L

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I really need to give this another listen.

It got a lot of discussion when it came out (surely the threads are still here somewhere), and I sure don't recall reading or hearing anything bad about the overall SQ, but I did not compare it to the 2CH mix either.

What I do recall is that the lyrics dealt with some pretty dark subject matter, and after reading all that, it really put my off from this title.

BGL
 

FeisalK

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happy new year and (a belated) merry christmas all!

Brian hey :)

been over at receivers posting about digital amps, and speakers (a first for me, got some sarcy posts deleted, but its all good :) )

By ear heheh! Put my ear next to the speakers and the bass guitar growl is there, and I stuck my ear in the port of my PS-1000 sub and a small whiff was felt (but I cant be sure... j/k) An ICBM is definitely an unfair advantage.

The Atoms are amazing actually, there are times there is no action in the sub and I wont notice it. This time its only the fact that I ran this disc on a stereo only system (with sub driven off the high level inputs) and there was quite a lot of bass that I noticed the anaemia on the DVD-A mix.
 

Lewis Besze

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Oh BTW I also checked out the DTS tracks,see if the bass loss can be traced to the Denon 2900, I used both my Outlaw's digital in and it's 6 ch in[decoding via the Denon]
While there was a difference in soundstage and clarity between the two hookup methods,but the signature harsh sound with no bass was there just like with the DVD-A MC track.So my conclusion is definitelly the MC mix is the culprit on this,now how much this will bother individual listeners, will be up to them. Yeah I was once regarded this disc when it came out as one of the best,untill I bought the CD version for my car stereo.Suddenly the DVD-A just didn't sounded "right" anymore.
 

gene c

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Brian, don't let the lyrics stop you from buying this excellent piece of music. It's all in how you approach it. Alice Coopers "Welcome To My Nightmare" is one of my favorite DVD-A's and this guy was insane! As some senator(?) said in the '50's, "It's not the lyrics, but the beat!" I have really enjoyed all 15 tracks on this one. Best $15 I've spent in a long time. But I will take a closer look at this low bass output thing. I think it's common to DVD-A as a whole from what I've read in the past. Overall sound seemed fine to me but I may not be as critical (or knowledgable) as some others in this area.
 

Brian L

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Gene....I do have it. It was after I bought it that I read some comments here regarding the lyrics. The music is fabulous, no argument there.

I gave at least 3/4 of it a play this afternoon, and I would agree that the bass is certainly not on the same level as say Hotel California (that one if one of the few were I actually turn the bass down!). But, I suppose it could be worse.

As for harshness, there were a couple tracks about half way through where the band gets rockin' (lots of cymbal crashes)that I would say would fit that description, but other tracks sounded OK to me regarding the frequency balance, albeit with less bass than I might prefer.

And before this degenerates into a "Its Harsh!" vs. "Its Smooth!" debate, I have come to the conclusion that there are so many variables in our gear, listening rooms, ears, and preferences that its pretty much a given that some will hear one thing, someone else another.

Over at Hoffman's there was a huge thread about the new Neil Young Greatest Hits...how great it sounded. So, I dropped my $20 on the combo CD/DVD. Well, color me tin eared, but this sucker sounds like sh*t to me. No bass, brittle, harsh upper mids/low treble....I hate the sound of that disc. And I think I am the only person that does! Oh well.

Lastly, there is really no issue with DVD-A software relative to low bass, but there are uni-players that need to have the sub/LFE output pumped up by a fair mount, as much as 10 dB. As I mentioned before, one listen to the title track of Hotel California will have you diving for the remote to dial the sub back a few clicks.

BGL
 

FeisalK

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May 1, 2003
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Brian,

I guess the BM in the Pio 655A leaves a bit to be desired; or maybe it's time to get better fronts (do you ever really need an excuse to upgrade equipment?)

Nowadays I can only take a certain amount of rock/metal anyways so the album would be over before I got fatigued
 

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